Gestational Diabetes
How do I know if I have "gestational diabetes"?
Most often there are not symptoms of gestational diabetes. A non-pregnant woman, or any individual with diabetes, typically has three common symptoms: frequent urination, frequent thirst, and frequent hunger. But in pregnancy, you have frequent urination, frequent hunger, and frequent thirst, so you can't really pinpoint those to gestational diabetes. It's not the overweight sugar-eater that always gets diabetes, and one thing that I think I should emphasize is that gestational diabetes is not your fault; it is when your body is not able to metabolize the glucose. So although your diet is a major factor, and you should eat healthy when you're pregnant, if you have gestational diabetes, it may simply be just adjusting your diet that can correct the problem. It doesn't necessarily mean you need to be medicated or any such thing. So if you are told you have gestational diabetes, don't panic, because you could just simply change some simple dietary habits that may adjust everything normally.
How do doctors test for gestational diabetes?
Gestational diabetes is defined by an additional screening test at approximately 26 to 28 weeks of pregnancy that when positive you have to perform a diagnostic diabetes test which involves quite a stay at the doctor's office. You come into the doctor's office fasting. They then test your blood at a fasting blood level for glucose. They make you drink a concentrated sugar drink and then test your blood one, two and three hours afterwards. They then take the values and they evaluate you as to whether or not you've met the criteria for gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is diabetes unique to pregnancy in that it occurs in pregnancy and the cure most often is delivery. It actually goes away when you deliver.
